Abbey Road | The Beatles fab4bob 30 Jun 2016 This is probably what the next Beatles album would have been (in the format of the White album.). all tracks were issued by solo Beatles in 1970 on three albums. McCartney, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and George Harrison-All Things Must Pass.

Ringo's track was a single Most Solo Beatles singles were left off (as they would have been Beatles singles) Make a playlist - It plays well the title -Beatles 70 1-That Would Be Something (McCartney) 2-Hold On (Lennon) 3-All Things Must Pass (Harrison) 4-Teddy Boy (McCartney) 5-Rembember (Lennon) 6-Beware of Darkness (Harrison) 7-Every Night (McCartney) 8-Love (Lennon) 9-Oo You (McCartney) 10-What Is Life (Harrison) 11-Well, Well, Well (Lennon) 12-Isn't It A Pity (Harrison) 13-Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney) 14-Look At Me (Lennon) 15-Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Harrison) 16-Isolution (Lennon) 17-Suiside (McCartney) 18-Junk (McCartney) 19-Let It Down (Harrison) 20-I Found Out 

21-It Don't Come Easy 22-Run Of The Mill (Harrison) 23-Man We Was Lonely (McCartney) 24- Singalong Junk (McCartney) 25-Working Class Hero (Lennon) 26-Behind That Locked Door (Harrison) 27-Mother (Lennon) 1970 solo songs notes- (Ringo plays Drums on John & George's songs) (Paul plays all instruments on his songs) (George plays guitar on Ringo's song) Make a playlist - It plays well fab4bob 30 Jun 2016 Their best production for sure.

I Want You is faultless. So is the Medley..and of course George's Something. It was almost too good to be their last?? BlondGuy 13 Jun 2016 A couple more points: Lennon's fading interest in keeping the band going by this point is reflected in his relative lack of contributions to the album. The production is grand, but it sometimes becomes overly-slick, almost as if Paul and George Martin wanted to make the Beatles palatable to an MOR radio listening, older audience. What brings the album down a bit is that it contains what may be the two worst songs the band ever recorded ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Octopuss' Garden"), and one that is lyrically simplistic to the point of redundancy and musically monotonous ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)"). But then side two starts up and all is right in the world again. The album also has a rather melancholy, wistful tone to it that REALLY does sound like the group is saying goodbye for good, and for me, that gives the record a rather sad, depressing overall feeling.

BlondGuy 11 Jun 2016 Side two = probably the best side of an album a rock band has ever made. Side one = kind of uneven once you get past the two brilliant opening tracks ("Come Together" and "Something", both of which are works of genius). Mr.paul66 12 Dec 2015 What a masterpiece! I Love this Album so much. My favorite track is "Something" by George! It's one of the geratest lovesongs ever! FelixW60 25 Jul 2015 I received the album as a music cassette and listened to these iconic songs till the tape was completely through. It means a lot to me and I always say this would be the only album I'd take with me on a desert island. FelixW60 25 Jul 2015 I received the album as a music cassette and listened to these iconic songs till the tape was completely through. It means a lot to me and I always say this would be the only album I'd take with me on a desert island.

Phil O'Brien 15 Jun 2015 their last recorded LP was my first Beatle LP and has always been my #1 overall alltime LP/CD,.. tha lst section, from "Golden Slumbers" on is timelessly fantastic and surely a reason Ringo deserved to be in HOF too.. Hope they release different versions other than on Anthology series.. maybe try it mono..All songs are timeless.. Capt.sanjay 21 Apr 2014 The last song recorded was I want you and we can hear that it stopped abruptly what was the reason, is it the exit from Abbey road, but you guys can not exit our hearts and we have real love for you, for ever. Capt.sanjay 21 Apr 2014 Abbey rd is one of my favorite albums, we sometimes regret another album should had been recorded (studio) after this, but we should say what if there was no Abbey road (album) itself, in any case fans had to wait for quarter of a century for the reunion and magic of songs, free as a bird and real love could be experienced - thank you very much.

Pictured: The Beatles album cover that started a decades-long conspiracy theory | Daily Mail Online Pictured: The Beatles album cover that started a decades-long conspiracy theory comments Forty years ago yesterday, at 11.35am, The Beatles walked across a zebra crossing in an innocuous North London street. The photoshoot for their new Abbey Road album happened just yards from the eponymous recording studios and took ten minutes - only six frames were taken by the photographer, Iain Macmillan, who was perched on a stepladder. It has since become one of the most iconic covers in history for two reasons - no album cover has inspired more imitations, and none has spawned such a mass of conspiracy theories. The Beatles' world-famous Abbey Road album cover that sparked a million conspiracy theories For Beatles obsessives with fevered imaginations, it was ultimate proof of the bizarre theory of the time - that Paul McCartney was, in fact, dead. According to the legend, Paul had died in a car accident and been replaced by an impostor. The band, it was said, subsequently felt guilty about the deception, and so placed hidden clues on the album cover for their fans.

Thus, even today, despite the apparent rude health of McCartney, they insist that if you look closely at the images on the front and back of the album it is packed with deathly symbolism. Beatlemania: A tribute band joined hundreds of fans in Abbey Road yesterday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the famous photoshoot Surrounded: A bus comes to a standstill as fans mob the Abbey Road site What is certain is that the album denoted one death of sorts. Unbeknown to the public at the time, The Beatles were in the final throes of a bitter break-up and would never record another album. Relations had deteriorated to such an extent that the group abandoned their original title of Everest, together with a shoot in the Himalayas, and were photographed instead walking away from the studios and everything they had once shared. For other devotees, however, far more could be read into the image... 1. THE FUNERAL The procession of The Beatles across the zebra crossing, say the conspiracy theorists, represents Paul's funeral.

John Lennon leads in a white suit and symbolises the preacher; Ringo Starr is the mourner, dressed in black; George Harrison, in scruffy shirt and trousers, denotes the grave-digger; Paul is wearing an old suit and is the only one who is barefoot. He later explained that he began the shoot wearing sandals but, because it was a hot day, he kicked them off. The theorists believed that if this was the case, the hot tarmac would be too uncomfortable. This, they argued, was a sign that Paul was the corpse. 2. THE CIGARETTE Paul McCartney is left-handed, but here holds his cigarette in his right hand. At the time, cigarettes were commonly referred to as 'coffin nails'. This, therefore, could be seen as a message that Paul's 'coffin lid' had been nailed down and that the man in the picture was a lookalike. Paul is also out of step with the other band members. Each of the others has his left leg forward, but Paul has his right leg forward - again marking him out as different. 3.

THE REGISTRATION PLATE The white VW Beetle in the background has the registration LMW 28IF - 28 being the age conspiracy theorists say Paul would have been IF he hadn't 'died'. In fact, Paul was 27 when Abbey Road was released - but fortunately for the theorists, Indian mystics count a person's age from conception, not birth, in which case Paul would have indeed been 28 at the time. Besides, the band were famously followers of the Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It has also been suggested that the LMW stands for 'Linda McCartney Weeps' - referring to his new wife whom he had married earlier that year. 4. THE SPECTATORS In the background, a small group of people dressed in white stand on one side of the road, while a lone person stands on the other. Is this meant to be Paul, alone and different from the others? 5. THE POLICE VAN On the right-hand side of the road is a black police van, believed to be a reference to the police who kept quiet about Paul's 'death'.

According to legend, the band's manager, Brian Epstein, bought their silence, and the presence of the Maria is meant as another subtle thank you. 6. THE LINE OF CARS A line can be traced from the VW Beetle to the three cars in front of it. If it is drawn connecting their right wheels it runs straight through Paul's head, with theorists suggesting that means Paul sustained a head injury because of a car crash. 7. THE BLOODSTAIN On the Australian version of the album, the cover showed what could be a bloodstain splattered on the road just behind Ringo and John, supposedly backing claims of a road accident. 8. THE CRACKED S On the back cover there is a picture of the Abbey Road sign and above it the name Beatles has been written. There is an obvious crack running through the S - thought to suggest problems within the group. 9. THE DOTS To the left of the name 'BEATLES' there are a series of eight dots. When joined together they form the number three. Did this mean there were only three Beatles left? 10.

IMAGE OF DEATH If the back cover is turned 45 degrees anticlockwise a crude image of the Grim Reaper appears, from his skull to his black gown. Theorists believed it was a sign that someone in the group had died. 11. THE GIRL Nobody knows the identity of the girl dressed in blue on the back cover. On the night of the theorists' 'car crash' it was raining heavily and Paul is said to have given a lift to a fan called Rita. It could be that this girl is her, either fleeing the scene or running to get help. 12. PAUL'S FINAL RESTING PLACE If the writing on the wall is split into sections, it conveys the cryptic message, 'Be at Les Abbey'. In numerology the following two letters, R and O, are the 18th and 15th letters in the alphabet. By adding this together (33) and multiplying by the number of letters (2), we get 66, the year Paul is supposed to have died. Three also represents the letter C so 33 could also stand for CC.

Cece is short for Cecilia, with theorists claiming Paul was 'laid to rest' at St Cecilia's Abbey, a monastery in Ryde, Isle of Wight. 20 Interesting facts about The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover you probably didn't know ... The original title for the album “Everest” (after a brand of cigarettes smoked by Geoff Emerick, one of the engineers). The packets had a silhouette of Mount Everest on them and The Beatles liked the imagery. However, the idea was dropped as none of The Beatles wanted to travel to Nepal for a cover shoot. 2. Suggestion for the cover shot The front cover design, a photograph of the group traversing a zebra crossing, was based on sketched ideas by McCartney. source Initially, the band intended to take a private plane over to the foothills of Mount Everest to shoot the cover photograph. But as they became ever more impatient to finish the album, Paul McCartney suggested they just go outside, take the photo there and name the album after the street. 3. Time and place Empty crossing on Abbey Road, taken on the morning of The Beatles’ album cover shoot, 8 August 1969.

source The photo was taken on 8th August 1969 outside EMI Studios on Abbey Road. At around 11:30 that morning, freelance photographer Iain Macmillan, who was a friend to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, was given only ten minutes to take the photo whilst he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up the traffic. 4. The cover picture was taken about 6 times. The band crossed the road a number of times while Iain Macmillan photographed them. Shortly after the shoot, Paul chose the fifth one for the album cover. Photo 1 – a limited edition print. source Photo 2 – a limited edition print. source Photo 3 – a limited edition print. source Photo 4 – a limited edition print. source Photo 5 – a limited edition print, as the album cover. For publication, the photo had some color corrections, and also possibly the very blue sky was painted in. source Photo 6 – a limited edition print. source Abbey Road Tweet Abbey Road On 26th Sept 1969, The Beatles released 'Abbey Road' in the UK.

The final studio recordings from the group featured two George Harrison songs 'Something' (Harrison's first A-side single), and 'Here Comes The Sun'. In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the "last album", they all felt at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and "go out on a high note". Abbey Road is the 11th studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It is their last recorded album, although Let It Be was the last album released before the band's dissolution in 1970. The photo session for the cover of The Beatles 'Abbey Road' album took place a month earlier on 8th August, on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic.

The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on ï¿½The Endï¿½, ï¿½I Want You (She's So Heavy)ï¿½ and ï¿½Oh! Darlingï¿½. The man standing on the pavement in the background on The Beatles 'Abbey Road' album sleeve is Paul Cole, an American tourist who was unaware that he was being photographed until he saw the album cover months later. When released in 1969 the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road album supposedly contained clues adding to the ï¿½Paul Is Deadï¿½ phenomenon: Paul is barefoot and the car number plate ï¿½LMW 281Fï¿½ supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 years old if he was still alive. ï¿½LMWï¿½ was said to stand for ï¿½Linda McCartney Weeps.ï¿½ And the four Beatles, represent; the priest (John, dressed in white), the Undertaker (Ringo in a black suit), the Corpse (Paul, in a suit but barefoot), and the Gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim work shirt).

Abbey Road was voted 14th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2009, readers of the magazine also named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album. Something became George Harrison's first A-side single. The track was initially given to Joe Cocker, but was subsequently recorded for Abbey Road. Frank Sinatra once commented that, "Something" was "the greatest love song ever written". In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the "last album", they all felt at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and "go out on a high note". "Octopus's Garden", was Ringoï¿½s second (and last) solo composition released on a Beatles album. It was inspired by a trip to Sardinia aboard Peter Sellers' yacht that occurred when Starr left the band for two weeks with his family during the sessions for The Beatles. While there, he composed the song.

The climax of the album is the 16-minute medley consisting of several short songs, both finished and unfinished, blended into a suite by McCartney and Martin. The album opener "Come Together" was inspired by a song Lennon originally wrote for Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California titled "Let's Get It Together". "Here Comes the Sun" is one of George Harrisonï¿½s best-known songs; it was written in Eric Clapton's garden in Surrey, England. "Her Majesty", tacked on the end of the album, was included in a rough mix of the side two medley, appearing between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". McCartney disliked the way the medley sounded when it included "Her Majesty", so he had it cut out of the tape. However, second engineer John Kurlander had been instructed never to throw out anything, so after McCartney left, he picked it up off the floor, spliced 14 seconds of red leader tape onto the reel, and then spliced in "Her Majesty" onto the leader tape, resulting in the track coming at the end of side two.

The image of the Beatles on the crossing has become one of the most famous and imitated in recording history. The crossing is a popular destination for Beatles fans and there is a webcam featuring it. In December 2010, the crossing was given grade II listed status for its "cultural and historical importance"; the Abbey Road studios themselves had been given similar status earlier in the year. John Lennon's Abbey Road cover white suit goes for £30k | Daily Mail Online comments Iconic: The white suit and the Imagine suit, both worn by John Lennon, were auctioned at the weekend. The Abbey Road suit was sold to an anonymous online bidder The two-piece white suit that John Lennon wore on the iconic cover of The Beatles' album Abbey Road has been sold for £30,000 at auction. Released in September 1969, it was the band's eleventh album and showed the four members of the group striding across a pedestrian crossing - with Lennon leading the way - near to the recording studio in west London. The album featured cult tracks such as Come Together, Something, Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Here Comes the Sun.

Rolling Stone magazine placed the album at number 14 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. And in 2009, readers of the magazine also named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album. Now the suit Lennon, who was shot dead outside his New York apartment just over thirty years ago, has fetched $46,000 at a New Year's Day auction in Connecticut. The successful online bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, will now be able to wander through his or her own Octopus's Garden at leisure in Lennon's old outfit. When the album came out people were unsure what to make of the quirky photograph. Rumours circulated that co-songwriter Paul McCartney had been killed in a road accident. Many theories were hatched about what the symbolism of the album actually was, and what allegorical significance it had. The suit and other Beatles memorabilia were sold at the Braswell Galleries' annual New Year's Day Auction on Saturday. Galleries owner Kathy Braswell told the Connecticut Post that the holiday auction is their biggest event of the year.

The galleries website said of the suit, made for Lennon by French designer Ted Lapidus: 'The Abbey Road image is one of the most unforgettable album covers of all time and the famous shot for the final Beatles album took on a life of its own. 'The suit figured prominently, suggesting the cover shot was symbolic of Paul [McCartney’s satirical] funeral procession with John dressed in white represented the clergy. Scroll down to see people imitating the iconic album cover Legends: Lennon, wearing the white suit, and McCartney sit and chat during the photoshoot of the famous Abbey Road cover Famous: Paul McCartney pictured in 1993 walking across the famous pedestrian crossing in west London as Linda takes photos from the roadside 'Conspiracies aside, it would be difficult to overestimate the impact Ian McMullen’s famed shot of the four musicians crossing the zebra cross walk has had on countless Beatles fans.

'Forty years after first being published, the familiar image is so indelibly imprinted on the public imagination it serves as the catalyst for thousands of multi-generational Beatles fans to make the pilgrimage to the famed spot and pay homage.' Aside from the Abbey Road outfit, another John Lennon suit - the one he wore for the Imagine documentary - was for sale at the auction. And Hank Gioiella of Darien paid $5,500 for a rusted green 1972 Chrysler station wagon Lennon and Yoko Ono owned. Station Wagon: Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1972 Chysler was also auctioned - it reached $5,500 (£3,550) Imagine: Lennon, shot dead in 1980, is shown wearing the other suit on his Imagine video alongside Yoko Ono New Year's Day auction: Braswell Galleries in Connecticut sold the suit, which featured on the 1969 album Bytes: Abbey Road - Cover Abbey Road - Cover The sleeve photograph for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album is one of the most widely known photographs in the world.

Some facts and trivia: Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album released by the Beatles and their last recorded, though Let It Be was the last album release before the band split up in 1970. Abbey Road was recorded and released in 1969. Although the album is regarded as one of the Beatles’ most tightly constructed albums, the group was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. Members had fallen out and some were not speaking to others. Producer George Martin had prevailed upon them to do a further album after work on the proposed Get Back album, later released as Let It Be, had not gone well. Speaking on the Beatles’ Anthology, the survivors of the Beatles said that they felt this was going to be their last album, hence they set aside their differences and determined to “go out on a high note”. The cover shows the group walking over a zebra crossing, single file, Lennon in the lead. Only McCartney is barefoot and he is holding a cigarette. The design is taken from a sketch prepared by McCartney, to which the photographer, Iain MacMillan, had added a detailed illustration: The zebra crossing is outside the EMI Studios in Abbey Road.

In 2010 the zebra crossing and the studios were granted heritage status for “cultural and historical importance”. The zebra crossing with EMI studios in the background in 1969 Iain MacMillan, the photographer and a friend of John and Yoko, was given ten minutes to take the photo whilst he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up the traffic. The white VW, also called a Beetle, belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across the road from the EMI studios. The number plate of the vehicle was repeatedly stolen after the album was released. The vehicle is now on display at a museum in Germany. In 1969 an urban legend was started by American college students that Paul McCartney had died in 1966 and had been replaced by a look alike. The belief was that the Beatles’ music and photographs gave clues to the “Paul is Dead” phenomenon, so that people started looking closely for such clues and indicators.

One such indicator that people found was the cover photo of Abbey Road, which was argued to be symbolic of a funeral procession: John, dressed in pure white, symbolises the preacher and heavenly body; Ringo, dressed in full black, symbolises the mourner; George, in scruffy denim jeans and shirt, symbolises the gravedigger; Paul, barefoot and out of step with the others, symbolises the corpse. Further, McCartney is holding a cigarette, often dubbed “coffin nails”, and he is holding it in his right hand when he was known to be left handed. The registration number of the VW – LMW28IF – was interpreted to mean that McCartney would have been 28 “if” he had lived, plus the letters LMW meant “Linda McCartney weeps”, a reference to Paul’s wife. Some other photos taken at the shoot, both by McMillan and Linda McCartney, show that Paul was wearing sandals at the time, discarded for the photograph selected for the sleeve: McCartney was the person responsible for selecting the final cover photograph.

One of the reasons that he selected this image was that it showed all four walking away from the Abbey Road studio, where they had spent so much of the last seven years. This was the first time that a cover contained neither the group’s name, nor the album title, just the photograph. There have been numerous parodies. Some favourites: Posted by Beatles Coffee Shop in London near Abbey Road NW8 Celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Beatles Crossing Abbey Road. August 8th 2009 was the 40th Anniversary of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road for the famous album cover. We celebrated the day by organsing a mass crossing of Abbey Road at 11.35am - 40 years to the minute since the Beatles! The event received media coverage all over world. To read our account of the day's events click here The Abbey Road Crossing On 8th August 1969, at 11.35am, four men walked across a zebra crossing in St John's Wood. Hardly an earth-shattering event, but since then millions of people have come to the very same crossing to imitate those four men.

Of course the four men in questions were The Beatles, and the crossing is in Abbey Road. The 'Fab Four' were posing for the photo that was to be used on their last album to recorded. Abbey Road has never been the same since. Every day, fans from around the world come to the crossing to walk in the footsteps of their heroes and to see the studios where they recorded most of their songs. The Beatles had been coming to Abbey Road for many years to record at the EMI Studios. Their die-hard fans often visited the studios in the hope of catching a glimpse of them coming or going. In fact a select few even camped in the car park to see their heroes come out after a late night recording session. However it wasn't until after The Beatles named their album after the street it is was recorded in that it became world famous and a shrine for fans. In fact things could have been very different. Originally the LP was going to be called 'Everest' - after the favourite brand of cigarettes smoked by Geoff Emerick, The Beatles' recording engineer. Someone had the bright idea that The Beatles should go to the mountain of the same name to shoot the album cover! The Beatles reaction to that idea can't be repeated here without offense!

Finally it was decided to call the album Abbey Road. Incidentally the album was NOT named after the studio, but the road where the studio is situated. The studio was then called EMI and didn't change its' name until after the album came out. The famous pose of The Beatles on the Abbey Road crossing endures as one of the most famous LP covers of all time, and one of the easiest for fans to replicate. The idea for the picture was probably Paul McCartney's. A sketch drawn by Paul showing how the picture should look still exists. The photographer hired was Iain MacMillan, a long time friend of John and Yoko. MacMillan had known Yoko before she met John and it is quite possible that John's first site of Yoko might have been on one of MacMillan's photos. His photos illustrated the catalogue for Yoko's exhibition 'Unfinished Paintings and Objects', at which the couple first met. Abbey Road Studios and the famous crossing For the photo shoot, The Beatles congregated by the crossing at around 11.35am. This was an early start for them as normally recording sessions didn't start until around 2pm.

This was done deliberately to ensure fans would not interrupt the photo session. The day was gloriously sunny and Iain MacMillan stood on a step ladder in the middle of the road to get the required angle. The Beatles were asked to cross the road in procession while MacMillan attempted to get the best shot. In the end six photographs were taken, and the whole session only took about 10 minutes. Shot one shows them walking from left to right, with a Mercedes car coming out of the car park of the studios. Shot two has them walking the other way across, towards the studios. In both shots Paul has his head bowed and is seemingly preoccupied with his feet. By shot three Paul has removed the open topped sandals he was wearing and is now barefoot - an historic decision! Shot three was probably the best so far, but has traffic too near to the crossing to be perfect. Shot four again shows them going from right to left. Like shot two, The Beatles don't seem to be concentrating on getting the right pose. Maybe they already had it in mind that the shot would look better going the other way across. Shot five was the best by far and the one used on the album cover.

Another shot was taken but this was far inferior. After the session on the crossing Iain MacMillan got in a car with Anthony Fawcett, John and Yoko's assistant, to find a suitable road sign for the back cover. They found one on the junction of Abbey Road and Alexandra Road. As MacMillan was about to take a photograph of the sign a girl in a blue dress walked through the shot. Fawcett remembers that Iain MacMillan was angry the girl had got in the way - but other accounts said it was planned. Unfortunately the Abbey Road sign no longer exists. This part of Abbey Road was redeveloped in the 1970s and the wall and sign demolished. The Story of Abbey Road Studios book - showing an out-take from the famous photo session A rare magazine about the Paul is Dead rumour The session on the crossing only lasted about 10 minutes - leaving The Beatles over three hours to kill before they were due to start recording. According to Mal Evans, in his personal diaries, Paul. John and Ringo went to Paul's nearby home to relax while George and Mal went to "Regents Park Zoo to meditate in the sun.

To Krishna Temple for lunch and studio for 3pm". Since the famous Abbey Road picture was taken several million people have crossed the street to imitate their heroes. In 2005 Abbey Road Studios estimated 150,000 come to Abbey Road every year. Just after the album came out, the Abbey Road cover became the central part in a bizarre rumour and conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney was dead! It is hard to pinpoint where the rumour started, but it seemed to begin almost simultaneously in different universities in America. Word went around that Paul had died in a car accident in 1966 and that The Beatles had replaced him with an imposter, to ensure their fame wasn't affected. However, The Beatles felt guilty about doing this so put 'clues' on various album covers and songs to tell the truth. Many of these clues can be found on the Abbey Road album cover. The picture is supposed to be of Paul's funeral procession, with George Harrison dressed as the gravedigger, Ringo Starr the undertaker, and John Lennon the preacher. Paul McCartney is supposedly wearing and old suit, and is barefoot - how bodies are buried!

Paul is holding his cigarette in his right hand - fans pointed out the 'real' Paul McCartney is left handed, so the man in the picture isn't Paul, but an imposter. Some even named the imposter as 'William Campbell', who had won a Paul lookalike competition. Paul is also out of step with the others, drawing attention to himself. By the side of the crossing is a white Volkeswagen car. The first part of the car's license plate is LMW - this is supposed to stand for 'Linda McCartney - widowed.' The second part is 281F - this is supposed to signify that Paul McCartney would have been 28 years old - IF he was still alive! Actually, he was 27 in 1969. There are even clues on the back cover. The 'Beatles' sign has a crack through it - to show that the band are no longer complete. Also the sun has shone though the shadows to create a shape that is supposed to resemble Paul McCartney's skull!

Rumours of Paul McCartney's demise spread like wildfire, especially when Russ Gibb, a DJ on a radio station WKNR in Detroit, received a telephone call from a student telling him to look for clues. From there the whole thing became an international pastime. The Beatles' offices received many calls from distraught fans wanting to know the truth. The rumour only started dying down when a reporter from Life magazine went up to Scotland, where Paul was staying, to obtain an interview to prove that Paul was still alive. Since 1969 the rumour has refused to go away. There have been many books and TV shows on the subject. Paul himself lampooned the rumour on his 1993 album 'Paul is Live'. He returned to the Abbey Road crossing with Iain MacMillan to pose with his old English sheepdog, Arrow. For the cover Paul is superimposed on an original Abbey Road picture - with The Beatles taken out. However the VW license plate has been changed, to 51 IS Paul's age when the Paul is Live picture was taken.

Fans Crossing Abbey Road 25 year to the minute since The Beatles The Paul is Live album cover Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios opened on November 12th 1931 when Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, playing Elgar's own composition, Land of Hope and Glory. Since then countless musical stars have passed through the studio's doors. An early regular visitor to the studios was Sir Thomas Beecham, who lived just around the corner from Abbey Road in Grove End Road. Other early visitors included Fred Astaire, Paul Robeson, Noel Coward and Glenn Miller, who made his last ever recording at Abbey Road in 1944. During the early days the studios official title was EMI Studios, in fact it didn't change it's name until AFTER The Beatles album of the same name came out. The Beatles first visited Abbey Road on June 6th 1962 for their audition with George Martin. After playing him many songs George Martin gave The Beatles a long lecture on recording techniques.

When he finished he said to them, "Ok, I've had my say, now you tell me if there is anything you don't like." After a short pause, George Harrison commented, "Well, for a start, I don't like your tie!" Fortunately, for George Harrison, George Martin was known for his sense of humour and The Beatles passed their audition. However, George Martin was not happy with The Beatles drummer Pete Best, and decided he would use a session drummer on their future recordings. The Beatles themselves were getting fed up of Pete too and George Martin's comments about his competency was a factor in his subsequent sacking and being replaced by Ringo Starr, who joined The Beatles in time to participate in the recording of their first single, Love Me Do, on September 4th 1962. Although Ringo drummed on that session, George Martin wasn't convinced of this talents, and when The Beatles returned to Abbey Road a week later, a session drummer called Andy White was asked to play drums while Ringo banged on a tambourine. However it didn't take long for Ringo to convince George Martin he was up to recording and no other session drummers were used on Beatles records.

The Beatles first album, Please Please Me was recorded on February 11th 1963 - in one day! Recording techniques were very basic in those days, but even for 1963 doing an album in such a quick time was very unusual. Although it only took one day to record, Please Please Me was top of the album charts for 30 weeks, only to be toppled by The Beatles second album, With The Beatles, that was number one for a further 52 weeks. In their early days The Beatles fitted in recording sessions between concert tours. However, all that changed when The Beatles gave up touring. The landmark Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album took over four months to record. They could spend as long in the studio as they liked. The Fabs also changed working practices at EMI. Before then recording sessions had set times but The Beatles liked recording at night time and the Studios had to adapt to meet their needs. A very famous recording session took place on June 25th 1967, when The Beatles recorded All You Need is Love. The session was seen live on a global satellite TV show called Our World.

It is estimated that 400 million people saw this historic broadcast. The last Beatles song to be recorded at Abbey Road was I Me Mine, in January 1970. However since then many Beatles projects have been carried out at the studios, Including the Beatles Anthology DVDs and CDs, The Live at the BBC album, and more recently the soundtrack to the Circque Du Soliel show Love. Abbey Road Studios remains as one of the most advanced and most used in the country. During the last 25 years the Studios have recorded scores of soundtracks of major films, including Star Wars, The Indiana Jones films, Lord of the Rings and many others. George Martin and Geoff Emerick on the steps of Abbey Road Studios Beatles Coffee Shop owner Richard Porter with George Martin inside Studio Two at Abbey Road Pop and Rock music is still recorded at the studio too. The 1970s were dominated by Pink Floyd, who recorded their huge hit album Dark Side of the Moon there. In the 1990s Radiohead did work on several albums. Please remember that Abbey Road Studios is a commercial facility and there is no public access to the building.

Question: On the cover of the Beatles Abbey road album which one of them is wearing a white suit
Answer: John Lennon